


The Captain's Cat Café

by mamagwendo



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Allergies, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - No Powers, M/M, More tags to follow with future chapters, Pining, Slow Burn, Tony Stark is an idiot, but I love him anyway
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-11 05:58:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15966140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mamagwendo/pseuds/mamagwendo
Summary: Tony Stark has done a lot of stupid things in his lifetime.Just ask Rhodey, he'll rattle a number of them off the top of his head instantly.But even Tony can admit that recently he's outdone himself with his own stupidity.How he's managed to become a regular at Steve's cat café is hard to explain to his friends.Especially seeing as they know he's incredibly allergic to cats.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic in... wow must be at least 5 years I think so apologies if I'm rusty.  
> First chapter is just an intro really, we'll get to the cats in the next one I promise. 
> 
> Rating and tags to change in future chapters.

Tony loved his commute into work.

 

Obviously, there were parts of it he hated. Like the early morning wakeups from Pepper, or the bombardment of emails he received whilst sat in the back of his limo. He hated the stiffness of his suit and the smell of car fumes that still seemed to permeate the limo even with its fortified doors.

 

Hell, he even used to hate the standstill traffic.

 

Used to.

 

That was before 'Captain's Cat Café' opened up just around the corner from Stark Industries.

 

Before Tony developed an unhealthy obsession with a stranger.

 

Before he first got a glimpse of that ass.

 

Oh Lord, how he could write sonnets about that glorious specimen.

 

Pert, bubbly, toned and attached to what Tony could only describe as a Greek Adonis.

A Greek Adonis who was currently bending down to write the daily drink specials on a chalkboard in perfect cursive.

 

Tony groaned as the man squatted down, knees slightly apart causing his beige chinos to stretch obscenely across the aforementioned backside.

 

His eyes took in the rest of the blond as he continued to write, pulse quickening as the man's biceps threatened to split the fabric of the short-sleeved white cotton shirt.

 

He imagined those tree trunk arms picking him up and slamming him against a wall. One hand underneath to keep him steady and the other reaching up, two fingers outstretched, moving towards Tony's mouth so that he could suck on them and worship his skin and-

 

"Sir!"

 

Tony jerked back to reality, dropping his phone to the bottom of the limo with a loud clunk.

 

"Are you all right Sir?" Happy asked, meeting his Boss' eyes in the rear-view mirror.

 

"Yep, fine, perfectly fine." He replied reaching down to retrieve his mobile from where it had slid under his seat. He pulled his collar away from his slightly flushed neck. "Actually Happy can you turn on the AC? It's a bit hot back here."

 

Happy smirked slightly as he noticed just what, or who he should say, his Boss had been staring at before he schooled his expression into one of bored indifference. Nodding  once he replied, "Of course Sir."

 

Tony chanced a look again to his right out the tinted window and smiled to himself as the stranger walked back into the shop and out of his sightline.

 

Yeah, Tony really did love his commute into work.

 

 

The floor length windows of his office looked out onto the skyline of high-rise buildings, (although none were higher than Stark Industries _obviously_ ).

 

He loved this view.

 

Maybe he would too? Perhaps he’d like it so much he would push Tony against one of those windows, show him off to the world, show them just exactly who he belongs to.

 

Pepper’s entrance into his office startled the man out of his thoughts before they could go to certain not safe for work areas.  

 

"Tony, have you signed off on those VAT receipts for this month yet? Accounts are starting to get a bit worried and by a bit worried I mean Debbie’s already made her way through a packet of heartburn tablets. "

 

How Pepper managed to walk with such confidence in 5-inch stiletto heels AND with her head glued to her phone was a mystery to him.

 

_"The woman's superhuman." Tony had first said to Rhodey after Pepper's first day. "I swear it's like she's been manufactured in a lab specialising in Personal Assistants with a talent for scaring the crap out of me."_

Tony laughed to himself at the memory before stopping abruptly at Pepper's cold gaze.

 

"Am I to take that laugh as a no then?" She asked, nails stopping their rhythmic tapping on the glass phone screen at the sight of the unopened envelope on the desk in front of her. "Ah, I see. I'll take that as a no instead then."

 

"Pepper, my sweet, fiery goddess I can assure you it was next on my very long to-do list", Tony replied, leaning back in his chair and rocking, hands cupped to the back of his head.

 

Pepper tsked, moving around the desk to the gap in front of Tony's outstretched legs so that she could perch on the edge of the table.

 

"And does this list include taking an hour out to fantasise about a certain blond café worker?"

 

"Yes, I scheduled it in for 11:15 to 12. You're actually interrupting it right now. Quite rude don't you think Ms Potts?" Tony said, flashing her his patented 'million-dollar' smile which only grew wider when she rolled her eyes at him. 

 

Pepper decided to ignore him, it was usually the best option. "Why don't you just go in and say hello? It's been months now Tones and while you do hold many titles, being patient definitely isn't one of them."

 

Tony thought for a minute before replying.

"I honestly don't know Pep. I guess I’ve built up this image of him in my head and now I'm scared to shatter that by finding out that maybe he’s actually a huge racist, homophobic, misogynistic prick. Or perhaps even worse, he could be exactly like I've imagined, send my heart into overdrive and I'll keel over at his feet." Tony rambled out, placing his head in his hands.

 

The silence filled the room for a long minute before Pepper leant forward and ran her hands through his dark curls. Tony exhaled a breath through his nose letting the tension drop from his shoulders at the feel of nails scratching lightly at his scalp

 

"I think that you should take a chance." She began, cupping his cheek in one hand when he looked up at her with puppy-dog eyes. "Ok so option one happens and it's crap and annoying but at least you can then move on. If by some cruel twist of fate option two occurs then maybe 'Hottie McHotWaiter', as you once called him and no I won’t let it go, gives you mouth-to-mouth and you run off into the sunset together. I really don't see a reason why you shouldn't just go in and at least try and order a coffee from him."

 

Tony turned his head, nuzzling into his friend's palm. "I'll think about it," Tony replied, his voice muffled.

 

"Please do."

 

Pepper stood, making her way to the door after giving one last stroke through Tony's hair.

 

"Give it a chance Tony, you deserve to chase your own happiness for once."

 

She smiled at him briefly before letting it drop and donned what Tony referred to as her 'authority face'.

 

"Be sure to chase it after signing those papers though. Debbie really will have an aneurysm if you leave it any longer."

 

Tony sat up straight and shot her a mock-salute.

 

"Sir yes, Sir.”

 

 

He'd promised Pepper he'd think about going into the café and one thing Tony had learnt in their 16-year-old relationship was that it really didn't pay off to fall through on a promise with the woman.

 

_(He still had the small scar on his arm from when she had thrown a stiletto at him for forgetting to pick her up for a gala. He learnt his lesson quickly after that.)_

 

Tony decided to take a quick walk through Central Park at lunch to clear his head.

 

Maybe he could draw up a mental list of pros and cons to help him decide whether to chance actually meeting the literal man of his dreams?

 

He also pre-planned to get a hot dog on his way out even though it _technically_ went against the diet plan Pepper and him were trying out. But this was a big decision, right? Big decisions like this require comfort food and grease, that's always been Tony's belief.

 

That was his plan and he would definitely stick to it.

 

So could somebody please explain why Tony was stood outside the Café?

 

It took a moment for Tony to realise just where he was but when it did eventually hit him he started to panic.

 

Oh god, oh god his stupid feet and idiotic brain were working against him. He wasn't ready for this. He couldn't speak to the man yet, his heart wasn't prepared. He wasn’t the kind of guy yet who could swoop in and swoon someone like that off his feet.  

 

At the moment he’s just a guy whose been stood in front of the glass doors for far too long.

 

And now there's a blond man coming out from behind the counter making his way over to the door and...

 

"Shit!" Tony exclaimed as he realised just who was walking towards him.

 

He quickly turned on his heel and started to walk back the way he must have come (even if he doesn’t quite remember the journey over).

 

The sound of a bell chiming behind him along with a light clink of glass doors closing was enough to startle him but he refused to slow down or turn around.

 

Tony did stop though at the feel of one large, and oh god _so warm_ , hand wrapping around the top of his bicep to slow him down.

 

Gasping slightly, he felt his face warm as he realised how close he was with the man he had been crushing on for months.

 

He truly was beautiful. Tony knew he had light blond hair, (his car had made an excellent creeper helper with its one-way tinted glass), and it was styled into the usual soft quiff but he had never seen it this close. He had never been able to make out the few sparse copper strands that glinted in the sun giving the man an almost ethereal glow.

 

Tony had also never been so close to that jaw. Jesus Christ Tony could cut himself on that jawline.

 

And oh God how he wanted to ride that face.

 

He wanted to take his time and map out the contours of his cheeks with his tongue. Taste the salt on his skin.

 

He physically ached with the need to kiss those lips. Those full, plump, pink, moving...?

 

Crap, the man's lips had been moving and Tony had no idea what he had said.

 

 _‘You can save this Tony,’_ he thought _‘come on.’_  

 

"What?"

 

Tony kicked himself mentally at his not-so-articulate ‘save’. 

 

"I said" the man replied, smiling as if Tony’s spaced out look was charming instead of creepy, "we're open."

 

Tony was going to reply, honestly, he was, but that’s when he noticed the arm still attached to his bicep and couldn't help staring intensely at it. He swore he could feel the heat of the palm through his dress shirt, marking him, _branding him_.

 

The other man must have noticed his staring, as he promptly took his arm away, letting it drop to his side whilst the other hand ran through his hair.

 

"Uh, I mean, I saw you looking in outside through the window but you weren't making a move to come in and I thought because we're empty at the minute that you might have thought we were closed and we really haven’t had many customers today so I sort of jumped at the chance to bring you in and I just thought… oh man I'm rambling aren't I?" he said, voice slightly strained as if he was catching his breath, either from chasing after Tony or from his outburst.

 

"A little bit… yeah," Tony said in shocked response.

 

The man raised one his hands again, this time outstretched towards Tony.

 

"Right, let me start again. I'm Steve. A pleasure to meet you."

 

Steve.

 

**_Steve._ **

 

The Adonis had a real human name.

 

Tony could hear Peppers voice in his head reprimanding him, _"Of course he has a human name, you idiot."_

 

Before it could become awkward Tony made sure to grasp the other's hand, praying silently that his hand wasn't sweaty.

 

"Tony. And likewise."

 

"Well Tony, at the risk of sounding a bit pushy would you like to come in for a coffee? We've got a new blend in today and I really need someone else’s opinion on whether it's worth the extortionate amount of money my friend paid for it." Steve asked, looking hopeful as he gestured to the front of the café with his thumb.

 

Tony shouldn't.

 

Tony _couldn't._

 

He'd been running away when Steve had chased after him hadn’t he? He wasn't ready. He’d had a plan. This wasn’t in the plan.  

 

Not at this stage anyway.

 

Maybe in a few months he'd come back? Try again. Look less like a fool. Be able to speak in longer sentences.

 

Yeah, this was for the best. He'll just tell Steve he's busy. Sorry, no can do today pal-a-reno, work commitments and all that.

 

Ok... here he goes, he’ll let him down gently for now and come back when he’s more prepared.

 

"Sure, I'd love to."

 

Fuck.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Steve share an intimate cup of coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for any 'Britishisms' throughout the story, I've tried to pick out any I've spotted but it's hard when Word decides to consistently change them back  
> Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter :)  
> I'm planning on posting a new chap weekly but that's all dependent on how hard work and my social life decide to beat down on me so just a forewarning that some may be a tad late...

Unbelievable.

 

Absolutely unbelievable. Tony’s reputation for impulsivity was really shining through today.

 

"Fantastic! Come on then, follow me." Steve beamed, smiling wide to reveal two rows of perfect white teeth. "I've saved the best table just for you." Steve winked, and Tony faltered as his heart stuttered for a beat in his chest.

 

The ridiculously hot weather of late was sort of a blessing in disguise now. It wasn't ideal when he had to spend his days in a three-piece suit but at least this way he would have an excuse for his slightly flushed face if Steve called him out on it. The fact that Tony, ex-playboy extraordinaire Tony, could be reduced to a blushing, stumbling fool was frankly embarrassing, and he was determined to put an end to it. He was a Stark. Stark's dominated conversations and left other's speechless. That was just the way it was and had been since Tony had attended his first function, age 14, and had left potential investors racing to empty their pockets with his plans for the first light-weight laptop.

 

Steve didn't give him a chance to try and redeem himself though unfortunately and instead grabbed onto Tony's forearm to pull him back to the café.

 

Ok, he could do this. He just had to order a cup of coffee, make pleasant small talk, maybe pepper in a few flirtatious jokes and hopefully leave with an extra phone number in his contacts. He had this. He totally had this.

 

* * *

He did not, in fact, have this.

 

_'Captain's Cat Café'._

 

**CAT** Café.

 

Somehow his lust-filled brain had managed to omit that word when he had first noticed Steve. It wouldn't have affected his desire for the man in the slightest, but it would have made him think twice about stepping foot inside the shop.

 

Inside, with the cats.

 

The place was full of the damn things. Well, not full exactly. Tony could see five from where he was standing, but still, that was more cats than he was used to seeing in a single room.

 

Steve had clearly sensed the other man's tension as he was now looking at him with an (admittedly adorable) confused expression.

 

"You ok Tony?" Steve said, following his gaze. "Oh, don't worry about those guys, I forget they're even in here sometimes. They're obviously a selling point for some customers, but most tend to just come in for the coffee." Steve pointed over to the table at the end of the shop to the left of the bar and motioned for Tony to sit. "They like to keep to themselves unless someone decides to pay them some attention so if you’re worried about potential cat hairs on your suit you should be fine as long as you don’t lie down on the rug.”

 

And wasn’t that an image Tony didn’t need right now, himself face-down on the light brown shaggy rug. Carpet burn beginning to affect his knees as the blond ruthlessly mounted him from behi-

 

Luckily Tony managed to come out of his thoughts before he created a situation for himself where he was forced to explain to Steve that he had popped a boner at the mere mention of a bloody rug.

 

He quickly reached out to pull back the chair and winced as it squeaked aggressively against the floor at his excessive force.

 

A soft purr came from his left, and that’s when Tony noticed just what he was now sat next to. It was a three-tiered black velvet cat tree with, what looked to be, a massive mound of black and grey stripy fur asleep on the top. Tony noticed Steve tying a green apron around his waist in his peripheral, but he didn’t dare take his eyes off the cat tree. He waited for his eyes to stream or for his throat to close, but so far he'd seemed to have had no reaction to the cats even though he was seated right next to one.

 

Huh.

 

It had been several years since Tony had last been in a close encounter with a member of the feline species but he distinctly remembers not being able to see out through red, puffy, streaming eyes after just a few minutes of being in their company.

 

He doesn't feel any of that coming on though. Strange. His throat doesn't feel warm, and he hasn't yet had the urge to scratch his eyes out to rid himself of an itch.

 

Maybe he's no longer allergic? That happens sometimes... right?

 

"Tony, do you not like cats?" Steve asked, making Tony turn towards the man and away from the mass of fur.

 

If he really was no longer allergic, then there was truly nothing to stop him from carrying on his plan to woo Steve.

 

"No, I love cats!" He exclaimed, and ironically, he did. He had begged his mom for one when he was small and had to find out the hard way that it wasn’t a possibility for him. "I've never really had much of a chance to interact with them though if I'm completely honest".

 

Steve laughed, and Tony watched as he strolled behind the counter. “Well, you’ve certainly got the chance to bond with some here if you fancy it?” The taller man then bent down out of view, retrieving a glass jar full of dark coffee beans that he placed on the counter in front of him. 

"Right, so. These beans are from...” Steve trailed off, head turned slightly down, eyes fixed on a certain point beneath the bar. “Guatemala." 

Tony kept quiet as Steve attempted to slyly glance at what he would put good money on being a page of notes. 

"They separate these small beans, 'peaberries' apparently" Steve explained as he placed a couple spoonful’s of the beans into a grinder and then warmed up two cups with steam. "It's supposed to have a floral flavour? With a hint of citrus, I think." 

 

Shifting in his seat, Tony covered his mouth with one hand to hide his laughter. Due to living the life that he did, (early morning meetings and all-nighters in the lab), Tony had been a resident of many coffee shops over the years, and he could firmly say, with conviction, that he had never seen any barista look as out of place as Steve did making his coffee.

 

"... and also it apparently goes a bit, um, gloopy? Like wine. That's when it cools down though.  Which is how some people might like their coffee I guess. Personally, I prefer mine just plain hot, but hey, everyone’s entitled to their own preferences” Steve jested, placing the now full cups onto two separate saucers.

 

“My friend, Nat, has assured me that as long as it’s brewed just right, this coffee should be one of the smoothest to dri-”

 

The coffee waved slightly in the cups, threatening to spill over the rim as Steve turned and halted at the sight of Tony.

 

"You're laughing at me," he accused.

 

The look of outrage on the taller man's face would have worried Tony if it hadn't been replaced by a small smile soon after.

 

"Yeah alright, you caught me. I don't know shit about coffee, and honestly, I don't even like it all that much" Steve said, sitting down opposite Tony with a sigh as he placed one cup by Tony and the other in front of himself.

 

"I really couldn't tell you know," Tony said jokingly, shifting again in his seat so that he could comfortably drink his coffee. "I think you'd actually have looked more at home diffusing a bomb back there."

 

"And here I was thinking I'd finally perfected my poker face," Steve replied with a wink, leaning across the table slightly into Tony's space.

 

Managing to maintain eye contact with the man proved too tricky for Tony's heart. He felt threatened by those piercing blue eyes as if Steve would be able to read his mind if he stared into them for too long.

 

He eventually forced himself to look away, leaning in to grab his cup for a distraction.

 

Steve watched him in anticipation and smiled as Tony's eyes widened in surprise at the first sip. "Good?" He asked.

 

"Holy shit Steve, for a man who claims to not like coffee you sure make a mean cup of joe," Tony replied, taking another sip, and then another. He noticed his throat felt a tad tingly, but he put that down to the hot temperature of the liquid.

 

"Right," Tony said purposefully, putting down his cup after draining about half of the liquid. He then crossed his arms and leant back slightly in his chair, eyes narrowed slightly in concentration. "Question; how does the man who says 'beans' as if it's a dirty word know how to roast a perfect cup of coffee?" He gestured to the cup as if to emphasise his point.

 

"That," Steve mirrored Tony's dramatic point, and the smaller man's crush developed just a little bit deeper, "is due to my friend and business partner, Natasha. She's the one who bought this coffee and also the one who put the deposit down on all those over-the-top machines you can see behind the bar there at the back."

 

Steve twisted around in his seat to point in the direction of the mass of steel and Tony had to stifle a groan at how the move made the muscles in his neck bulge. The man had muscles on top of muscles.

 

"She taught me how to use them a few months back when we first opened. The woman can be intimidating but I gotta admit, she's one hell of a teacher." Steve smiled before taking a sip of his own coffee and Tony couldn't help the pang of jealousy in his stomach at the evident affection in the other man's voice.

 

Christ, he didn't even know if the man was single or if he even liked men for that matter, but here Tony was getting jealous after knowing him for a maximum of 15 minutes.

 

"I'm guessing Natasha's the one who bought you the beans then?" Tony asked, picking the cup up again to drain it in one gulp, the action forcing his head back slightly.

 

When Steve failed to answer his question, Tony looked back towards him and smirked when he noticed the other man's eyes darting up from where they had been fixed on Tony's throat.

_'Ok so that's a definite maybe on the 'is into men' category'_  Tony thought happily.

 

The slight blush spreading across Steve's cheeks made Tony more confident in his assumption, but he refrained from commenting on it. For now. 

 

"Uh, yeah. I mean yes, she was. Wanted me to try bringing in new customers with more exotic flavours that may be harder to find anywhere else in the city."

 

"Well then," Tony said, leaning forward in his chair with one arm extended ( _'dangerously close to Steve's hand'_ , his mind supplied) on the table for balance. "You can tell her you succeeded, keep providing me with god-tier cups of coffee like that, and you'll have a hard time keeping me out of here."

 

Steve paused for a moment, then smirked. "I really don't think I'd mind having you around more often you know if you did decide to keep coming," he expressed, reaching out slightly with his right hand to gently caress the fingertips of Tony's left one with his own.

 

Tony somehow managed not to show any outward indication that the move had affected him. However, he prayed that the man didn't possess superhuman hearing otherwise the rapid thumping of his heart trying to beat out of his chest would have given him away.

 

Steve was flirting with him, right? Holy crap Tony must have actually been hit by a car on the way over and this was some sort of coma dream because there was no way that Steve was openly flirting with him, surely.

 

Tony looked up from their hands and straight into those piercing blue eyes once again, only this time he made sure to maintain contact.

 

If he WAS flirting, then Tony had to do something to show his interest. He was damned if he was going to let the man think the advance was unwelcome after he'd spent months dreaming of a moment like this.

 

The most subtle way he could think of to show his interest was to flip his hand over so that they would be loosely holding hands across the table. He was sure that would be a clear sign of consent to carry on whatever was going on here.

 

Tony braced himself for a possible rejection before turning his arm when a loud yowl startled him upright and away from Steve.

 

"Oh, Colonel Phillips! You're awake finally, I was starting to get worried about you Ol’ man." Steve had stood abruptly at the sound and Tony cursed his luck at being potentially cockblocked by a damn cat.

 

Although, the sight of Steve cradling what appeared to be a small grey panther against his chest had him cursing for an entirely different reason.

 

"Fuck that thing is big!" He exclaimed, taken aback at how the cat seemed to stretch across Steve's entire torso.

 

The blond was undeterred by his exclamation however and continued to scratch behind the Colonel's ears. "Yeah, he is. The Colonel here's a Maine Coon. Don't be fooled though, he may be a giant but he's just a big softy at heart, craves attention like no other cat I've had and I've had some needy cats."

 

A shrill ringing sound echoed through the shop behind two closed doors at the back, and both men turned to look at the source of the noise.

 

"Ah, that's the shop phone. I best answer it just in case it's Nat. Don't want to risk annoying her before her shifts even began" Steve chuckled, moving to place the cat in Tony's lap absentmindedly before walking through the oak doors.

 

There was a cat. In his lap.

 

Tony hadn't touched a cat in over 30 years, and now he has perhaps the biggest one he has ever seen in his lap.

 

The cat itself doesn't seem to notice the tension in its new handler and decides to make itself comfortable by kneading at the soft flesh of Tony's thigh.

 

Tony flinches slightly at the feel of claws digging into his leg and reaches out a hand to stop the cat, or Colonel as Steve called it, from falling off his lap.

 

The Colonel looks up towards the brunette at the feel of his hand, and for the first time Tony can see that he's missing his left eye, a single scar running across closed flesh vertically where it once must have been.

 

The sharp ache in his chest startled him. “Poor thing,” he whispered. Tony didn't know whether it had been inflicted by a fellow cat or a human but either way it would have surely been a traumatic experience for the cat. Yet here he was, getting comfy on a stranger without a care in the world.

 

He smiled to himself and began to pet the Colonel in the same way Steve had been doing moments before. Tony leant back in his chair and closed his eyes. As he listened to the low mumbled voice coming from behind the back wall of the shop and the deep purr coming from his lap Tony couldn't help but feel like this was the most content he'd been in years.

 

Which is when, evidently, it all went to shit.

 

His throat, which had begun to tingle when he had been drinking his coffee, felt like it was on fire now. And dry, it was incredibly dry.

 

Tony could also feel his eyes begin to water and the urge to rub his hands across them to cease an itch was rising.

 

Damn it all. He was still allergic to cats.

 

Sighing, he picked up the Colonel and ignored the affronted 'meow' he received in return before placing him on the ground at his feet.

 

Resting the urge to sneeze, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet and StarkPhone. He sent an urgent pick-up request to Happy and pinged his location across before getting a couple of notes out of his wallet to cover the coffee.

 

Tony was nearly at the door when he heard Steve's voice calling out to him.

 

"Tony! Are you leaving?" Steve questioned, and Tony couldn't help but be slightly happy with the fact the man didn't seem too pleased at the prospect.

 

"Yep, sorry to run out on you so suddenly but I didn't know how long you'd be on the phone and I've got to get back to the office for a development meeting."

 

(Little half-truths were what Tony relied on daily. Give people a bit of information to satisfy their curiosity but not enough to know his true intentions.)

 

He could only hope that the new distance between them and the natural light through the glass doors meant that Steve couldn't see clearly how red his eyes must have been by then.

 

"Oh. Well, thanks for coming in I guess. It really was swell meeting you." Steve was avoiding looking at Tony, leaning against the bar with one hand as it picked at imaginary lint.

 

"Steve," Tony said purposefully.

 

The other man's head shot up from where he'd been looking at the floor, and he waited for Tony to continue.

 

"What time do you open?"

 

Steve smiled, once again flashing those perfect teeth and answered, "8am."

 

"I've got a meeting at 9:30 on Monday and it's a big one. I'll be relying on your excellent coffee skills to get me through the day if you don't mind."

 

"Not at all, I look forward to seeing you again Tony." Steve reached down to pick up the Colonel and Tony really regretted having to leave the two of them. He wanted to stay in their calming bubble for all eternity.

 

"Likewise Steve."

 

* * *

Tony waited until he was in the safety of his car to finally assess the damage the cat had done to him.

 

His eyes were streaming, his nose was running, and his throat felt like someone had aggressively taken a strip of sandpaper to it.

 

At the fifth sneeze in a row Happy calmly handed a box of tissues through the divider, avoiding eye contact and remaining silent throughout the journey. _(Tony had never loved the guy more.)_

 

His journey back to Stark Industries passed in silence save for the odd sneeze and sniffle coming from the billionaire. However, while the car may have been silent, his mind was moving a mile a minute, formulating a plan.

 

He'd promised to be there on Monday and on Dum-E's circuit board was he going to be there on Monday.

 

He just needed to invent a cure for allergies within 3 days.

 

Simple.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and please let me know if there are any glaringly obvious mistakes that i've missed


End file.
